Thursday, February 28, 2013

U.S. oil production the highest since 1992

U.S. crude oil production exceeded an average 7 million barrels per day
(bbl/d) in November and December 2012, the highest volume since December
1992. The end-of-year data were reported on February 27 in EIA's Petroleum Supply Monthly.

Initial estimates for production in November were below 7 million bbl/d,
but revisions based on additional data indicate that production
exceeded 7 million bbl/d in November 2012. That was followed by December
production estimated to be more than 7 million bbl/d.

Because of time constraints in publishing monthly petroleum supply
statistics, EIA uses an estimate of production for the most recent
month. This estimate is derived from actual data reported by federal and
state agencies that supply the information in time for EIA's
publication. For remaining states, EIA estimates crude oil production
using the latest available data from those states. As reported data
become available, EIA revises the estimated production data with actual production data. The revised data appear in the historical data series
on EIA's website. In the future, EIA is proposing to collect crude oil
production data directly from companies in the top-producing states in
order to provide a more accurate and timely assessment of U.S. crude oil
production volumes.